Like a man and a maid in love for the first time, they helped each other dress, with Will touching, kissing, laughing with Elodie as she donned her simple maidâs gown. He knew once they reached Paris she would try to slip away from him, but he felt too light and euphoric to worry about it. Happiness was fizzing in his chest like a freshly opened bottle of champagne.
Heâd had many an adventure ⦠but never one like this. Never with a woman who was a companion as uncomplaining as a man, as resourceful as any of the riding officers with whom heâd crept through the Spanish and Portuguese wilderness, working with partisans and disrupting the French.
Their liaison was too fragile to last, but for now heâd be like his Elodie and suck every iota of joy from an already glorious day that promised, once heâd taken care of provisions for the morrow and found her a room with a bed, to become even more wonderful.
He twined his fingers in hers as they went back to their horses. âHow glad I am to be out of those monkâs robes! Iâve been dying to touch you as we travel.â
âGood thing,â she agreed. âSince youâre grinning like a farmer whoâs just out-bargained a travelling tinker. I doubt anyone could look at us now and not know we are lovers.â
He stopped to give her a kiss. âDo you mind?â
âNo. Iâm grateful for each moment we have together, Will. One never knows how many that may be.â
JULIA JUSTISS wrote her first plot ideas for a Nancy Drew novel in the back of her third-grade notebook, and has been writing ever since. After such journalistic adventures as publishing poetry and editing an American Embassy newsletter she returned to her first love: writing fiction. Her Regency historical novels have been winners or finalists in the Romance Writers of Americaâs Golden Heartâ¢, RT Book Reviews Best First Historical, Golden Quill, National Readersâ Choice and Daphne du Maurier contests. She lives with her husband, three children and two dogs in rural east Texas, where she also teaches high school French. For current news and contests, please visit her website at www.juliajustiss.com
Novels by the same author:
THE WEDDING GAMBLE
THE PROPER WIFE MY LADYâS TRUST MY LADYâS PLEASURE MY LADYâS HONOUR A SCANDALOUS PROPOSAL SEDUCTIVE STRANGER THE COURTESAN THE THREE GIFTS
(part of A Regency Lords & Ladies Christmas anthology)
THE UNTAMED HEIRESS
ROGUEâS LADY CHRISTMAS WEDDING WISH
(part of Regency Candlelit Christmas anthology)
THE SMUGGLER AND THE SOCIETY BRIDE* A MOST UNCONVENTIONAL MATCH WICKED WAGER FROM WAIF TO GENTLEMANâS WIFE SOCIETYâS MOST DISREPUTABLE GENTLEMAN THE RAKE TO RUIN HERâ
*Silk & Scandal Regency mini-series â Ransleigh Rogues
Did you know that some of these novels are also available as eBooks? Visit www.millsandboon.co.uk
Sometimes a minor character grabs your imagination and wonât let go, intriguing you so much that you know you will have to uncover the rest of her story. Such was the case with the mysterious Madame Lefevre, the woman who lured Max Ransleigh into friendship at the Congress of Vienna in order to set up an assassination attempt on Lord Wellington in the first book of The Ransleigh Rogues mini-series, THE RAKE TO RUIN HER.
Where had she come from? What drove her to participate in the plot? What happened to her afterwards? As I explored the answers to those questions I discovered a unique and intriguing womanâa French emigrée whose family was destroyed by the Revolution, a survivor dragged along by the turbulent historical forces that catapulted France in one generation from monarchy to republic to empire and back. Taught by remorseless circumstance to depend only on herself, Elodie trusts no one and expects nothing.
Who could I pair with such a resourceful and determined heroine? Though Iâd originally intended a different story for him, only one man could match her: Will Ransleigh, Maxâs illegitimate cousin. Cast into the London slums on the death of his mother, a clergymanâs daughter seduced and abandoned by Maxâs uncle, Will survived by his wits on the streets for six years before Maxâs father plucked him from Seven Dials and sent him to his country estate, instructing Max and his cousins to make a proper Ransleigh out of this gutter rat.
I hope you will enjoy Will and Elodieâs story.
I love to hear from readers! Find me at my website,
www.juliajustiss.com, for excerpts, updates and background bits about my books, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/juliajustiss and on Twitter @juliajustiss
Barton Abbeyâlate spring, 1816
âI wager I could find her.â Smouldering with anger against the woman who had destroyed his cousin Maxâs diplomatic career, Will Ransleigh accepted a glass of brandy from his host.
âWelcome back to England,â Alastair Ransleigh said, saluting Will with his own glass before motioning him to an armchair. âFar be it from me to bet against âWagering Willâ, who never met a game of chance he couldnât win. But why do you think